With the new year upon us, we’ve decided to finally discuss the only song that has ever made sense to discuss on the last week of the year, The New Year by Death Cab For Cutie. Gibbard and the boys have an insane way of dragging your entire day into the gutter after just one verse of any of their songs, and The New Year holds no punches. If you’re looking to feel melanchonly and introspective as absolute hell at a New Year’s party that you didn’t want to go to in the first place, this song and video are for you.
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
Submit your takes for ScorchFest 2022 Here!
Best New Songs of 2021 Playlist on Spotify
Best New Songs of 2021 Playlist on Apple Music
Songs of the week:
That Funny Feeling by Phoebe Bridgers (Bo Burnham cover)
Come Heroine by Touché Amoré
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For the first time in 5 years, we record an episode LIVE in front of a virtual studio audience! Pat watched a super long documentary about The Beatles, Tom definitely does not, they both start new Christmas traditions with their growing families, and they (we?) take compliments and accept gifts weirdly. How very Irish Catholic…
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
Richard Scarry’s The Animals’ Merry Christmas
Our Episode with Jess Scutella
Songs That Remind Me of *Equip Sunglasses by Hot Mulligan Playlist on Apple Music
Songs That Remind Me of *Equip Sunglasses by Hot Mulligan Playlist on Spotify
Songs of the week:
Mystery by Turnstile
Stubborn Love by Seaway
Hit us up online!
Look, every modern, original Christmas song is terrible. They’re all so bad, in fact, that we had to go out of the decade just to find a remotely wintery song worth talking about. But the emo gods have blessed us with Neck Deep’s December, of which there are THREE VERSIONS!
There seems to be a trend with super depressing Christmas/winter songs coming from the bands we love, and boy does Neck Deep deliver, “Pain is never permanent but tonight it's killing me” and whatnot.
Make sure to buy the new flash sheet here before they sell out!
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
December by Neck Deep ft. Chris Carrabba Music Video (pt 1)
December (again) by Neck Deep ft. Mark Hoppus Music Video (pt 2)
Life’s Not Out to Get You on Apple Music
Life’s Not Out to Get You on Spotify
Gold Steps by Neck Deep Music Video
Songs of the week:
Dad Vibes by Limp Bizkit
Lonely & Pathetic by LØLØ
Hit us up online!
Our first foray into the early 2000’s insanity that was Christian metalcore, Christ-core for short, lands us at the “Reinventing Your Exit” music video by a band that has recently renounced their religious affiliation, Underøath.
They’re Only Chasing Safety walked so that albums like Someday Came Suddenly could sprint at freak-like speeds. Still, there’s something about Underøath’s first effort with new vocalist Spencer Chamberlain that has yet to be replicated by any band since. The screams are brutal, the singing is transcendent, the shirts are tight, and the belts are bright in this masterpiece of a music video. So buckle up and bring a friend because it’s dangerous business walking into this week’s episode.
Make sure to buy the new flash sheet here before they sell out!
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
Reinventing Your Exit Music Video
Our Interview with Shane Drake
Seeing a studded belt in Hot Topic for the first time
Songs of the week:
Valentine by Snail Mail
Better Man by Taylor Swift
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Y’all have been begging us for an American Hi-Fi song for ages now, and we aim to please. Flavor of the Weak is a super great song, VERY guitar forward, the riff slays, the hi hats are compressed, Nintendo takes some strays (or so we thought), and it’s just a super fun, super catchy song. And we won’t even hold the fact that they can’t spell “week” against them.
Make sure to buy the new flash sheet here before they sell out!
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
Flavor of the Weak Music Video
Heavy Metal Parking Lot Documentary
The Party in the USA Episode with Motern Media
Songs of the week:
Pitch Black by Heart Attack Man
Laurel Canyon by Calling All Captains
Hit us up online!
If emo has taught us anything through the years, it’s to express ourselves; to be honest with ourselves and others, and do it in the most verbose and flamboyant way possible. Write a song about that girl. Hell, write a whole album. Say as much about that 2-week relationship as you possibly can. And you know what? Cram as many characters into that song title as you can while you’re at it…
This week we take a look back at our favorite songs whose names could barely fit into an OG tweet, with some taking as many as 3. Then we draft them to our team to see who can end up with the highest character count at the end.
Make sure to buy the new flash sheet here before they sell out!
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
The Long Song Title Mixtape Draft on Apple Music
The Long Song Title Mixtape Draft on Spotify
The A Lesson In Romantics Episode
The I Write Sins Not Tragedies Episode
Our Interview with Shane Drake
Songs of the week:
Simple Times by Kasey Musgraves
And for a Moment I Don’t Wanna Die by Ways Away
Hit us up online!
Today we’re celebrating 250 episodes and 5 years of the podcast with NEW ARTWORK! We’ve been working on a super fun art project with our friend Jess Scutella for almost a year now, and we are honored to have them on the show to talk emo, pop punk, tattooing, Erie, PA, community, and Taylor Swift.
It’s been a long time since we’ve sat down and had a conversation with Jess so it was great to just chat in this super fun and super self-indulgent episode.
Make sure to buy the new flash sheet here before they sell out!
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens
The Tour and That’s a Fact Tour 2009 Badge
The Devil and Death and Me by Run Forever
Girls From the Show by Radio Empire
Be Your Babe by Brooke Surgener
Songs of the week:
Paprika by Japanese Breakfast
Posing in Bondage by Japanese Breakfast
Feels Like by Gracie Abrams
Hit us up online!
After absolutely bungling the Futures episode, we attempt to make it up to Jimmy Eat World (who desperately need our validation) by talking about… their most successful song to date. Then Tom gets really sweaty and talks about a kid getting slapped while trying to sleep at his 14th birthday party. Idk. Back to Jimmy Eat World
In 2001, the record industry turned their back on James and they retaliated by releasing one of the biggest songs of the year, The Middle, which stands for the finger they gave to Capitol Records for dropping them just a couple of years prior. Let’s break down the song and music video in the week’s episode.
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
Definitely do not listen to The Futures episode
Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and EMO by Andy Greenwald
Riding in Vans with Boys Documentary (Part 1)
The Where You Want To Be Episode
Songs of the week:
Love All by Drake (feat. JAY-Z)
Feel A Thing by Meet Me @ The Altar
Hit us up online!
It’s Pat’s birthday so we’re breaking decade and going DEEP into a song that has totally overtaken his life, King For a Day by Pierce the Veil. This is a band that, honestly, neither of us have ever listened to before YouTube shoved this thing down our throats for months, but who are we to question the algorithm? it always knows best.
This banger from 2012 has become a staple on emo Twitter/meme culture, largely due to its absolutely incredible music video of some scrappy young bank tellers who make a grown man piss his pants because they had to come into work on a Saturday. it’s just… the best. Hail Mary, forgive me…
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
Behind the Scenes of the King For a Day Music Video
Pierce the Veil’s “King For a Day” is ruining my life by Pat Holmes
The Reason by Hoobastank Music Video
Songs of the week:
The Hounds of Anubis by The Word Alive
How Not to Drown by CHVRCHES and Robert Smith
Hit us up online!
The cart jumps off the rails immediately as we dive right into memories of our sophomore lockdown when we originally meant to talk about our junior trip to Six Flags, when we originally meant to talk about Relient K. Chap Stick… was easily one of our most played songs in high school, and the lyrics offer a really awesome glimpse into early 2000’s tech, which most of the listeners of this show I’m sure can relate to if they dig deep enough back into their brains. There are also some pretty gnarly theories about the actual meaning of the lyrics which we explore in addition to the great music video and the fine line that Relient K so gracefully danced between being a Christian and being a young man who lives in a very secular world.
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
Chap Stick, Chapped Lips, and Things Like Chemistry Music Video
The Dear Maria Episode (Road Trip Stories!)
The Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been Episode
Songs of the week:
Lillith by Halsey
California Chvrches
Hit us up online!
We get a little bit out of our comfort zone this week and imagine ourselves alone on a stage, spotlight shining, performing our favorite songs for friends, coworkers, and strangers alike. Here are the 10 songs we would pick if we were the types of guys to do such a thing, which we definitely are not.
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
The Pop Punk & Emo Karaoke Mixtape on Apple Music
The Pop Punk & Emo Karaoke Mixtape on Spotify
Sugar, We’re Goin Down Episode
Sugar, We’re Goin Down Misheard Lyrics Video
Songs of the week:
Bells in Sante Fe by Halsey
Dirty Bombs by Grayscale
Hit us up online!
We talk about Fall Out Boy a lot. Like, a LOT. And we have no plan of slowing down, or at least we didn’t until we realized while recording this episode that we’re kinda the biggest FOB casuals in the world. One more so than the other (take a guess).
This draft inspired lots of stories of some of our band’s first shows where we covered early Fall Out Boy songs, recording sessions that went tragically, Tom drops a hot steamy dumpy of a take like it was nothing, and we try to get to the bottom of “is Fall Out Boy emo”?
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
The Fall Out Boy Mixtape Draft on Apple Music
The Fall Out Boy Mixtape Draft on Spotify
The Sugar, We’re Goin Down Episode
The A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me Episode
The This Ain’t a Scene Episode
Songs of the week:
Live Again by Grayscale
Drift Away by Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!
Hit us up online!
Please have your tickets ready at the gate, because the hype train is screaming through town and it’s slowing down for NO ONE! In 2007 Mayday Parade put out one of the most legendary albums of all time and we’re taking our sweet, sweet time digging through every masterpiece on this thing.
In the episode, we discuss how we emotionally connected to each song on the record, the perception of the band at the time, and missing one of our only chances to see them live.
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
A Lesson in Romantics on Apple Music
A Lesson in Romantics on Spotify
Interview with Mike Henneberger
Rock Bottom at the Renaissance by Mike Henneberger
Mayday Parade’s Drum Kit that Tom’s Old Bandmate Owned
Mayday Parade on Audiotree Live in 2017
Songs of the Week:
Die On The Vine by Ways Away
Star-Crossed by Kacey Musgraves
Hit us up online!
Few bands have had as much influence on our musical taste, our band, and our lives as Taking Back Sunday. This episode has been waiting to come out for a while, and we spend an awfully long time drafting our favorite Taking Back Sunday songs from their first 4, pre-2011 albums.
Mixed in we’ve got tons of personal stories and connections to each song, some fan fiction, and wild conspiracies about song titles and gaps in the recordings. The angst-o-meter is off the charts for this one.
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
The Taking Back Sunday Mixtape Draft on Apple Music
The Taking Back Sunday Mixtape Draft on Spotify
The Cute Without the E Episode
The Tell All Your Friends v. Where You Want To Be Episode
Rap (is not very good) Flight of the Conchords
Songs of the week:
Bed of Nails by No Pressure
A Good Night’s Sleep by The Starting Line
Hit us up online!
Khaki rock is back baby, and we’re here for it! Andrew McMahon graces our screens with some sensible slacks, no shoes, and multiple microphones. There’s not much to the video, a few dudes being dudes, hanging out in Canda on a day off from touring. They seem both exhausted and energized by the camera lenses pointed at them, and they deliver a totally fun performance and some oh-so-relatable yard game shots.
Since the video itself isn’t too involved, we really dive heavily into our own about hating the newspaper, journalism students quoting Wikipedia on a college essay, Tom giving a 15-minute speech on crop circles, taking piano lessons, and some tour stories that heavily relate to the lyrics of this amazing song.
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
I Woke Up In a Car Music Video
Intensity In Ten Cities by Chiodos
Songs of the week:
Runaway Horses by The Killers
A Damned Shame by Gold Bloom
Hit us up online!
We both watched a 1h 46m minute just to deliver this episode, and we couldn’t be any more apologetic to how it turned out. This meandering conversation touches on the song and music video at times after taking breaks from nonsensical deep dives into the Denver airport, watching movies on cable television, and collect calls from jail.
We’re not super proud of it, but we had a lot of fun recording it! So we hope you enjoy the episode and just give us a break for ONCE! We didn’t listen to Cobra Starship growing up but we knew you wanted us to talk about the video, so we did our best. Love you.
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
Interview with Bert Poncet of Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!
Songs of the week:
I Wanna Bite Your Face by Eve 6
Playing Dead by Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!
Hit us up online!
In a genre not often associated with very technical artists, quite a few drummers have stood out from the pack as absolute masters of their instrument. This week we draft our favorite songs that feature insane drumming, and we impose a “no duplicate drummer” rule in order to encourage talking about drummers not named Travis Barker.
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
The Drum Draft Mixtape on Apple Music
The Drum Draft Mixtape on Spotify
Jason McGerr’s Grapevine Fire Shuffle
Songs of the week:
Marigold by Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!
I Guess I Just Feel Like by John Mayer
Hit us up online!
After realizing that The Academy Is… is not Rookie of the Year, the guys take a moment to reflect and speculate on the perception and reception of The Academy Is… as a band, and we discuss the rise of belt culture and too tight tees. Pat has a WILD story about being flown to Seattle to be on a film set, and Tom asks a girl out on the set of Transformers 3. Then we went off on bad haircuts the day before a wedding, ruining a soundcheck, there’s a quick therapy session, almost we forgot to talk about The Academy Is... if we’re being honest.
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
The Academy Is… Trivia Game Show Episode
A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More “Touch Me” by Fall Out Boy Episode
Songs of the week:
Last Train Home by John Mayer
Weekend by Upstate
Hit us up online!
2006 was an absolute bonkers year for new music. Some of our favorite tracks came out as we were sophomores in high school and we ate it up with a knife and a fork and did not want for more
Things remained pretty civil in this week’s episode and we ended up with a banger of a playlist. Make sure to stream the draft playlist on Apple Music, Spotify, or Amazon Music! And hit us up on Twitter with your 10 songs from 2006 that absolutely knocked your emo little socks off.
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
The 2006 Mixtape Draft on Apple Music
The 2006 Mixtape Draft on Spotify
Mutiny! by Set Your Goals episode
Emote! at the Location Twitter Account
The Great Escape by Boys Like Girls episode
Curse of Curves by Cute Is What We Are For episode
(Here) In Your Arms by Hellogoodbye episode
Balaguer Woodman BB Baritone Guitar (Beau Burchell Artist Series)
This Is Pop Auto-Tune Episode on Netflix
Interview with Bert Poncet of Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!
Songs of the week:
Losing My Mind by Angels & Airwaves
Marigold by Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!
Hit us up online!
Arguments could be made that My Friends Over You, or even New Found Glory in general defined pop-punk as a genre and defined the goofy but not quite fart-punky music video. And trust me, we make those arguments.
Every frame of this video is packed with some zany leg flailing bit, mega heads, pizza deliveries, bigfoot feet, celebrity cameos, and even a few liberty spikes. It’s truly awesome and one of our favorite music videos of all time.
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
My Friends Over You Music Video
Nathan’s Gold Spatula Photo on Twitter
Nirvana Butchering a Live Performance
Songs of the week:
Shouldn’t Matter But It Does by John Mayer
Complete You by Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!
Hit us up online!
You’re stranded on a deserted island. Your plane went down leaving you stranded with nothing but a Sony Walkman and a shipment of CDs from the years 2000-2010. Why? I don’t know. Shut up…
This desert island draft has a twist! We each need to pick 10 albums to fit 10 scenarios that we find ourselves in on this island. From gathering provisions to building a structure, and hunt wild animals to celebrating the hunt, and of course the inevitable catastrophe and unveiled mystery of the island, there’s an album for everything.
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
Tom’s Ghost Stories on Patreon
Aladdin and the Cave of Cheeseburgers
Songs of the week:
Hypermania by Polaris
Firehawk by Justin Courtney Pierre
Hit us up online!
Good Charlotte (more like GREAT Charlotte, amiright? sorry.) had done what very few bands have managed to do, release their debut album with a major label. This record has a bit of everything, but what it possibly has the most of is a bunch of talking and introducing themselves on the opening track “Little Things”, which honestly we think they pull off pretty well.
In this episode, we break down the music video and tell stories about public school, and one time Tom gave an autographed school photo of himself to a celebrity for some unknown reason.
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
Little Things by Good Charlotte Music Video
Just the Girl by Click Five Music Video
Songs of the week:
Valhalla by ERRA
deja vu by Olivia Rodrigo
Hit us up online!
Bert Poncet, the singer of Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! stops by the talk about the songwriting and recording process of their new album Gone Are The Good Days.
Tom and Bert broke down in detail the recording process of their first self-produced album Something For Nothing, the Andrew Wade Remix, recording Pardon My French with Joey Sturgis, making Get Lost, Find Yourself with Kyle Black, and finally writing, recording, and self-producing Gone Are The Good Days.
It took 11 years to get back to self-producing a record. Bert says he’s learned a lot working with some legendary producers in the genre, but he was excited to get back to producing his own work since no one else has quite been able to capture the signature Chunk! sound.
We break down in extreme detail the writing and recording process of Bitter, we uncover some drum production strategies, exclusive info on upcoming plugins, a new type of guitar that the guys invented, and going to Fiverr for that legendary sax solo in Complete You.
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
Buy and Stream ‘Gone Are The Good Days’ NOW!!
Something For Nothing (Original Mix)
Something For Nothing (Andrew Wade Mix)
Gone Are The Good Days Music Video
Mixing, Mastering, and Songwriting with Alias Studio
Beau Burchell Woodman BB Baritone Guitar by Balaguer
Hit us up online!
While they may be just on the fringes of what we talk about on the show, The Dangerous Summer are front and center in our hearts. In 2009 the band dropped one of the greatest albums of all time, Reach For the Sun. The award-winning album opener (I mean, we picked it in our album openers draft) Where I Want to be is the perfect amalgamation of angst, existential dread, and self-awareness that this band would become cherished for for albums and iterations to come… WITH DELAY PEDALS!
We talk about favorite memories of seeing the band live, how 3 new friends were made at their shows, favorite yard games, regrettable accessories, and the music video.
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
Where I Want To Be Music Video
Tom, Nick, AJ, and AJ singing on stage
Mike Henneberger on the podcast!
Rock Bottom at the Renaissance by Mike Henneberger
Tom’s dumb hair and hemp necklace
Songs of the week:
Masochist by Polaris
Leave the Door Open by Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Silk Sonic
Hit us up online!
In anticipation of My Che—, err, Motion City Soundtrack’s upcoming 17 years of Commit This To Memory Tour, we draft our favorite MCS songs that were released between the years 2000-2010. What we were left with was a great playlist that you can stream on Apple Music and Spotify, but more importantly an even deeper understanding of how incredibly awesome and underrated this band is.
BONUS EPISODES AND PHOTOS ON PATREON!
Links:
The Motion City Soundtrack Draft Playlist on Apple Music
The Motion City Soundtrack Draft Playlist on Spotify
Songs of the week:
Sexting by Bo Burnham
Clairvoyant (Lo-Fi version) by The Story So Far / MIK
Hit us up online!
